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  • Author Author: wymand
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Introduction

wymand

I was asked to introduce myself.

Name Doug Wyman..  I am 71 years old and played with my first computer in 1962.

I couldn't handle the priesthood of mainframes so went into telecommunications.

in 1976 the Washington State Patrol where I was employed gave me a Data General clone

to play with.  Since then I have been having fun.


In the early 80s I started using single board computers for dedicated communications applications.

in 1988 I got a grant to invent the first source switching peer to peer mobile computer network.


My final days at WSP before retirement were spent working on weigh in motion hardware and software.

When I retired, the WSDOT brought me on for the same project.  I retired again then came back as a

consultant.  I finally retired a few years ago and now live on the side of Tiger Mountain in the Issaquah Alps

in Washington State U.S.A. 


I am mid-design on an automatic chicken coop control with cameras lights and a few more little add ons.

I am also automating the outside lights with a Raspberry Pi as we have many wild critters on the mountain

that would like to eat our chickens goats and dogs.


Since most of my years were spent in government, I was an IBM/Microsoft geek.  Now with Raspbian and Python

I am in a whole new learning mode and loving it.  I have an RPi with three cameras streaming while running

remote controls with a Pi Face. 


My motto is Keep on Learning.  Keep on Evolving.


   Thanks Doug

  • in reply to DAB

    On the weight in motion project we added (actually a co-worker got all the fun) an IR camera set-up to image the bottom of the trucks

    as they slowed for the weigh-station.  The images compared the IR of each brake and if one were too hot or too cold the driver was

    alerted.  Too hot = brake dragging, too cold=brake not functioning correctly.  The project got a national safety award.

     

    We had a very tiny anechoic box for radar testing.  I would have loved a large facility.  We did a lot of antenna engineering.  I got to learn

    from Pat Buller who could work magic with antennae and wave guides.  I never knew that a tiny dent in the right place could improve

    the VSWR of a wave guide.

     

    I got a chance to work with 2-way satellite which was my highest RF fq work.  The lowest iirc was around 400khz morse.

     

    I have always loved learning and especially testing.  We had the best environmental testing lab.  I got to do some cooperative design for

    Morton Thiokol's Pulsecom division.  We got the first of a new MW fault warning and alarm system and we gave them many engineering

    improvements before it went to beta test.  The original failed environmental badly but they were willing to listen and change some fundamental

    design elements.

  • in reply to wymand

    With all of your RF experience, you should find IR fun.  There are so many uses for both reflected and emitted IR that the business is booming.

     

    I ran a full Multi and Hyper spectral analysis tool build, so you can say that I have worked with everything from DC to light, including IR.

    Plus I have been involved with one of the largest, if not the largest, anechoic facility in the world.

     

    You can have a lot of fun if you are willing to learn.

     

    DAB

  • Welcome to element14 Doug.   I look forward to hearing and interacting with you.

     

    Nate

  • in reply to DAB

    Sounds like we have a lot in commmon.  I've worked LF, HF, VHF, UHF and microwave communications.  I gave a paper to JPL/NASA on mobile satellite communications.  I started out in 1961 attached to NSA.

    Then VHF then video consulting then electronic engineering (no degree) for what seems like a lifetime.  Oh... It was. <grin> I've been fortunate enough to do alpha and beta testing on both

    hardware and software puls have had the fortune to work with design grants on the bleeding edge of things.  Now I am tinkering and learning.

     

    I infer from your weapons comment that you may have worked on infrared.  That is a new field for me.

  • Hi Doug

     

    Welcome to Element14.

    It sounds like you will have a lot of fun with the members here.

    Most of us follow your motto everyday as there is just too much to learn to sit still and let technology pass you by.

    I look forward to your blogs and future interactions.

     

    DAB